This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 9-47339 filed on Feb. 14, 1997, which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conduit-separated endoscope system, particularly to the structure of an endoscope system provided with conduits such as a suction tube and an air-feed/water-feed tube and making it possible to easily clean the conduits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 7 shows the entire structure of the electronic endoscope (scope) of a conventional electronic endoscope system. The electronic endoscope 1 comprises a front end 1A having a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), an inserting portion 1B, an operating portion 1C, and a cable 1D. An end of the cable 1D is provided with a connector 2A for connecting a light guide and various conduits and a connector 2B for connecting an electric signal transmission line. The operating portion 1C is provided with angle dial 3 for bending the front end 1A, a suction button (mechanical control valve) 4A, and an air-feed/water-feed button 4B and moreover, a forceps port 5 for inserting an action tool into the front end side.
An action-tool inserting channel communicated with the forceps port 5, a suction tube for suction, and an air feed tube and a water feed tube for feed air or water are arranged in the endoscope, and a conduit connector 7 for connecting these conduits with external tubes is set to the connector 2A.
According to the above structure, the connector 2A is connected to a light source unit, the connector 2B is connected to a processor unit, and the inside of an object to be observed is picked up and observed by the CCD of the front end 1A in accordance with light irradiation by the light guide. Moreover, air or water can be fed to an observation window or the like from the front end 1A by using the air-feed or water-feed tube and insertion of the action tool and suction of dirt in the object to be observed can be performed by using the suction tube.